Eureka resident Beverly Hallsten was skeptical after receiving a phone call Monday morning with a voice recording telling her that there was something awry with her ballot.

“It was a man’s voice,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “It was a recording. It concerned the Prop. 6 gas tax initiative.”

She said the recording told her how she should vote.

“We were told to vote yes on 6,” she said.

Hallsten is not alone in receiving the call, according to Kelly E. Sanders, the Humboldt County clerk, recorder and registrar of voters.

“Apparently it is happening throughout the state,” Sanders said, noting that the Humboldt County office reached out to the California Secretary of State’s office to notify them of the issue.

Sanders said she knows of “half a dozen” calls her office has received regarding the recorded calls.

“Our office contacted the Secretary of State’s office after receiving a phone call from a concerned voter and we were assured there are no errors in the ballot language for Proposition 6,” she said. “The vote by mail ballots that are being mailed this week are correct.”

Sanders said that the calls and cards being sent to voters are likely spurred by objections to the language used in Proposition 6, the initiative that would repeal the gas tax that was put into law in 2017 when the governor signed SB 1, which funds infrastructure and road repairs.

“I believe what they are objecting to is the language of the title of Proposition 6 that was created by the Attorney General’s office,” she said. “There is a time period when people can view those and make objections, but that expired weeks ago.”

She said that people who receive the call can contact the elections office locally to help them track the number of effected people. The office can be reached at 707-445-7481.

Ruth Schneider is the city editor of the Times-Standard and is published in a dozen newspapers in Northern California. She has two degrees in journalism, including a master's degree from Columbia University's School of Journalism. She writes about LGBTQ issues, goings on in Sacramento and covers general news as needed. In her spare time, she yo-yos, reads and spends time on local beaches. She can be found at @RuthOUTspoken on Twitter and by phone at 707-441-0520.